Contributed by: Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
A litany of angelic names recorded in Sefer haPeliah whose initial letters spells out the 42 letter divine name as also found (in variation) in Sefer HaQanah.
Contributed by: Susan Weingarten (translation), Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Ḳalonymus b. Ḳalonymus ben Meir
Before potatoes entered the diet of Ashkenazi Jews, latkes were cheese pancakes, or cassola, as described in the poem “Even Boḥan” (Touchstone) by Rabbi Kalonymus b, Kalonymus ben Meir.
Contributed by: Aharon N. Varady (translation), Nir Krakauer (translation), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation), Steven Greenberg (translation), Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Ḳalonymus b. Ḳalonymus ben Meir
A prayer by Kalonymus b. Kalonymus ben Meir that appears in his poem ספר אבן בוחן, יג Sefer Even Boḥan (§13), describing the author’s wish to have been born a Jewish woman.
Contributed by: Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
From the Morning Blessings (Birkhot ha-Shaḥar) of the Seder tefilot be-targum le-Shuʾadit [סדר תפילות בתרגום לשואדית], a translation of the Siddur into Judaeo-Provençal dating from the 14th-15th century providing the following blessing for women.
Contributed by: Aharon N. Varady (translation), Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Israel Brodie, Yaakov ben Yehudah Ḥazzan of London, Unknown
This is the remarkable and unique form of the prayer Elohai Neshamah as found in the Ets Ḥayyim, a compendium of law and tradition of the Jews of England completed in 1287 by Jacob Jehudah Ḥazzan of London (only three years before the expulsion of the Jews from England).
Contributed by: Dávid Kaufmann, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
Jacob b. Jehuda of London, the author of that valuable contribution to the literary side of Anglo-Jewish history, the Talmudical compendium Etz Chaim, so providentially rescued and preserved for us, never dreamt, when he noted down, in the year 1287, the Ritual and Agada of the Seder Nights according to English usage, that he was fixing a permanent picture of what was doomed to destruction, and was recording not a mere portion of the liturgy, but a page of Jewish history. Faithfully copying his great prototype, Maimonides, the English Chazan also embodied in his work the texts of the Recitations on the Seder Nights in the form customary among his countrymen, and appended the correlated rites according to Minhag England.
Contributed by: Israel Brodie, Yaakov ben Yehudah Ḥazzan of London, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
The nusaḥ of the Jews of England before the expulsion is witnessed in a single text written by Jacob Jehudah Hazzan of London in 1287. The text is currently held in the collection of the library of the University of Leipzig. We are grateful to the library for making available to us a scan of just pages in the work containing the seder tefilot — something unavailable to its first transcriber (to which our digital edition is indebted). In April 1962, the former chief rabbi of the British Empire Israel Brodie published his transcription through Mossad haRav Kook, writing “The Etz Hayyim is the most notable and certainly the most voluminous of the literary productions of mediaeval Anglo-Jewry which have survived. It was written in 1287, three years before the Expulsion. The author of whom very little is known, wrote this comprehensive code of religious law based on the Mishneh Torah of Maimonides, on the Sefer Mitzvot Gedolot of Moses of Coucy and of many other rabbinic authorities some of whom are otherwise unknown. Included among his authorities are Talmudists — some of renown, who flourished in England. The Etz Hayyim appears to have been regarded as an authoritative source of Jewish Law, judging by references to it contained in works which will be listed in my full introduction. Though it was not quoted as frequently as other works of a similar nature, it takes its place among the Rishonim. David Kauffman in the Jewish Quarterly Review, Vol. IV, pages 20—63, 550—561, and Vol. V pages 353—374 gave a detailed description and appraisal of the Etz Hayyim. The full publication of the work, will, I am sure, provide scholars with additional and varied data which will justify the labour and time involved in its preparation and editing.”
Contributed by: Marcia Prager, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
In siddurim following the nusaḥ ha-ARI z”l, the Barekhu call to prayer is immediately preceded by a passage from the Zohar, Parshat Terumah, explaining the profound significance of the Maariv service.
Contributed by: Aharon N. Varady, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
A reading from the Zohar providing context for the first meal of Shabbat on Friday evening.
Contributed by: Aharon N. Varady, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
A reading from the Zohar providing context for the second meal of Shabbat (the Saturday lunch meal).
Contributed by: Aharon N. Varady, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
A reading from the Zohar providing context for the third meal of Shabbat (the Saturday afternoon meal, se’udah shlishit/shaleshudes).
Contributed by: Meir ben Barukh of Rothenburg, Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Aharon N. Varady (translation)
This formula for recitation in the Sukkah at the conclusion of Sukkot (on the night of Shemini Atseret) is given in the name of Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg (1215-1293) and found in two sources: Siman 148 of the Teshuvot of Shimshon bar Tsadoq (a/k/a the Tashbets), and Siman 71.50 of the Sefer Kol Bo.
Contributed by: David Asher (translation), Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
“Even haRoshah” (the corner stone) is a seliḥah recited on the Fast of Tevet in the Ashkenazi nusaḥ minhag Polin.
Contributed by: Johann Stephan Rittangel (Latin translation), Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)
The text of the popular piyyut “Adir Bimlukhah” (a/k/a “Ki lo na’eh”) in Hebrew, with a Latin translation.
Contributed by: Yehudah ben Shmuel of Regensburg, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
A mourner’s ḳaddish in the event there is no quorum.
Contributed by: Office of the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations, Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
This is the formula of the prayer for the government established by chief rabbi Joseph H. Hertz as introduced in 1935 for King George IV at the Royal Jubilee Service and included in his revised Authorised Prayer Book, vol. II (1942/3), p. 506-507. In 2014, this formula was amended by Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis of the Office of the Chief Rabbi of the UK and the Commonwealth, to include a short passage in recognition of the United Kingdom’s armed forces.
Contributed by: Ephraim Mirvis, Office of the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
This “Prayer in honour of the Queen’s 90th birthday,” was first delivered by Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis for the Office of the Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth on Shabbat 11th June 2016, and shared via their website in English. Side-by-side with the English we have set the Hebrew text from the formula of the traditional prayer “haNoten Teshua” as used by the Office of the Chief Rabbi as amended in 2014.
Contributed by: Israel Brodie, Joseph Herman Hertz, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
The text of the prayer, haNoten Teshuah, as adapted for Queen Elizabeth II.
Contributed by: Unknown, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
A prayer for the government for the royal family of the Netherlands and the city council of Amsterdam copied in the late 19th and mid-20th century from earlier sources.
Contributed by: David de Sola Pool, Aharon N. Varady (transcription)
The Prayer for the Government offered by Rabbi David de Sola Pool in his service for Thanksgiving Day in 1945.

